Page 1 of The Incendiary

ONE

GAVIN SMYTH

I’m still trying to remember.

—UNSENT CORRESPONDENCE FROM QUEEN ARYELLA I TO THE BUTCHER OF NYRIDA

25th of Floris, 402 Years Ago

The first time I saw her, she walked into my shop demanding a blade.

She took my heart instead.

For minutes after she left, I stood frozen in the doorway of my blacksmith’s shop, staring at the spot where she’d stood. Willing her to come back and wondering what had just happened to me.

Now, a day later, I was pacing around my loft above the forge. It looked and felt far too small. I uttered a string of curses and wiped the surface of the tiny, rickety table I ate meals on for the third time. What the hell was I thinking? In what world would she want to be up here with me?

Grunting in frustration, I swept the floor once again and readjusted the few books and trinkets on my shelf by the small, round window. The dull little landscape painting on the wall above my double bed needed to be straightened. Why had I never found something nicer to hang?

I stared at the bed, grateful that I had never taken a woman there. It was my space. And it had once belonged to Eden and Isaac, the couple who’d taken me in as a child. I refused to taint it.

But Ella was welcome here. She couldn’t sully a thing.

I frantically remade the bed again. Not that I planned to bed her. Fuck, I’d never wanted something so badly in my life, but nothing was happening tonight. She deserved to be courted, to be adored, before anyone laid a hand on her.

The city bells chimed at six o’clock.

“Hello?”

I froze when her sweet voice drifted up to my loft from the shop below. Absurdly punctual, of course. Panicked, I looked down at my attire—scuffed black boots, a wrinkled gray shirt, dark work pants with a soot stain on the left thigh. The nicest outfit I owned.

“Shit!” I tried to wipe off the stain with a stray cloth, then glanced at my freshly shaved face in the mirror. My thick, dark hair fell over my forehead and ears, but it was clean and mostly contained.

I never would be good enough for her, but this would have to do.

“Gavin?”

Hands sweating, heart pounding, I rushed down the stairs, taking two at once. When I saw her, I had to blink a few times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Surely, the gods blessed this girl with more beauty whenever she slept. Her hair, which had been in braids yesterday, now flowed in gentle silver curls over her shoulders. She wore a hooded cloak and below it a sky-blue velvet dress, its neckline beaded with tiny pearls. Her deep green eyes, soft freckles, and lush, full lips were perfect. My chest and face burned. Gods, she was an angel.

“Sorry, I was…” I snatched a crumpled piece of parchment from my worktable and tossed it into the forge. “I was cleaning.”

Smiling, she lowered her hood. All of her was a dream, but it was the gentle sincerity in her smile that gripped my heart and held it in a vise. Her goodness.

She was so breathtaking it hurt.

Pink colored her cheeks. “You didn’t need to clean for me.”

“Yes, I did,” I chuckled, stepping aside to let her pass. “Dinner’s upstairs.”

She glanced at me. And the unease in her beautiful eyes lit a dangerous fire in me. I had to remind myself she was safe to quell it. I wanted to destroy anything that frightened her. I wanted to shield her from a world destined to pollute a heart so pure.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I promised her. “You’re safe with me.”

She had no reason to trust me. But I didn’t know how else to comfort her but speak the truth. She let her shoulders relax and nodded. When she passed by, I inhaled her scent. Strawberries and something soft and good that settled on my skin and made me feel like I was floating on warm air. Like sunlight.

I followed behind her as she climbed the stairs with my eyes trained on my feet, trying to be a gentleman.

When she reached the top, I was careful not to brush against her or startle her while passing. I watched as she took in her surroundings. The crowded wooden shelves on the walls that held glass jars, metal pots, plates, and bowls. The small table with the uneven leg that I should have fixed.